INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION: ART of the EARLY and HIGH RENAISSANCE

(Leonardo’s Last Supper)

HIGH RENAISSANCE: Leonardo’s Last

Supper

Online Links:

Leonardo da Vinci – Wikipedia

Bramante – Wikipedia

Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks - Smarthistory

Leonardo's Last Supper – Smarthistory

Leonardo's Last Supper - Private Life of a Masterpiece

Andrea del Castagno's Last Supper - Art in Tuscany

Dieric Bouts - Flemish Primitives

Bouts Holy Sacrament Altarpiece - wga.hu

Leonardo da Vinci. Self-Portrait

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), the

illegitimate son of the notary Ser Piero

and a peasant girl known only as

Caterina, was born in the village of Vinci,

outside Florence. He was apprenticed in

the shop of the painter and sculptor

Verrocchio until about 1476.

After a few years on his own, Leonardo

traveled to Milan in 1482 or 1483 to work

for the Sforza court. In fact, Leonardo

spent much of his time in Milan on

military and civil engineering projects,

including an urban-renewal plan for the

city.

Leonardo da Vinci. Virgin of the Rocks, c.

1485, oil on wood

The Virgin of the Rocks was painted around

1508 for a lay brotherhood, the

Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception,

of San Francesco in Milan. Two versions

survive, an earlier one, begun 1483, in the

Louvre, and a later one of c. 1508 in the

National Gallery in London.

There is no general agreement, but the

majority of scholars concede that the Louvre

panel is earlier and entirely by Leonardo,

whereas the London panel, even if designed

by the master, shows passages of pupils’

work consistent with the date of 1506, when

there was a controversy between the artists

and the confraternity.

The patron confraternity was devoted

to the Immaculate Conception, the

doctrine that Mary was conceived

without sex and free of all stain of

original sin. This belief, promulgated

in papal bulls written by Pope Sixtus

IV close to the date when Leonardo

painted the picture, was represented

in a sculptured image at the same

altar (above or below the painting)

and has infiltrated the meaning of

Leonardo’s painting.

According to tradition, the cave

associated with the Nativity was

mystically identified with the cave of

the Sepulcher. The dove may be

interpreted as a reference to the

Virgin Mary, and perhaps the

shadowy caves are intended to

suggest humanity’s dark mortality,

which needs the divine light that

enters through Mary as the

immaculate vessel of God’s purpose.

The composition of the figures create the

unified pyramid that will be the basis of

High Renaissance compositional practice.

The most extraordinary aspect of the

painting is its dark and gloomy background,

a wilderness of jagged rocks rising almost to

the apex of an arch.

The softening of all sharp contours and clear

delineations, known as sfumato, creates the

mood of a freer painterly representation, in

which the paint seems to adapt itself to the

qualities of places and things- day and night,

lightness and darkness become important

components of the painting.

Leonardo da Vinci. Cartoon for the

Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the

Infant St. John, 1498, charcoal

heightened with white on brown paper

The word cartoon is derived from the

Italian “cartone” meaning a large sheet

of paper on which the artist drew an

image that served as a kind of

template for the finished painting or

fresco, using pricking the contours with

a sharp instrument. Charcoal dust

would then be brushed over the holes

so that the outline of the cartoon could

be transferred to the wall or wood

panel. This cartoon dates from the mid-

1490s and is in black chalk,

highlighted with white, on several

sheets of reddish buff paper. It was in

fact never pricked, so it is possible that

it was intended for a painting but was

considered by Leonardo as complete in

itself.

Leonardo da Vinci. Last Supper from the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan),

c. 1495-98, fresco (oil and tempera on plaster) (View during latest restoration)

The Last Supper was commissioned by Lodovico Sforza of Milan. As Lodovico’s court

artist, Leonardo’s duties included constructing theatrical devices for pageants and

designing weapons that could be used against the enemies of Milan- including the

artist’s Florentine compatriots.

The recently completed cleaning of Leonardo’s Last Supper has revealed its relatively

poor condition, which is due to a disastrous technical experiment on Leonardo’s part. An

artist as sensitive as Leonardo to the slightest throb of light in atmosphere was bound to

be impatient with the fresco method, which could not allow the time needed to establish

his customary shadowy unity to the painting his perfect luminous finish to the details.

After preparing the wall with a base layer covered with a thin layer of lead white,

Leonardo built up his composition and colors using layers in a manner resembling

tempera painting on panel; dampness between the layers prevented them from drying

properly and the paint eventually began to flake off the wall.

Above: After Leonardo da Vinci: The Last

Supper (about 1515) by Giampietrino

who was active about 1500–1550

Right: The Last Supper photographed in

1900

Leonardo refers to the text from Luke, for Judas’s hand is on the table, stretching after

the bread. Because Christ’s hands gesture toward the bread and the wine, the picture

also refers to the institution of the Eucharist. Leonardo has fused this episode with yet

another moment- never before represented- as recounted by Matthew, Mark, and Luke:

“Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceedingly

sorrowful, and began every one to say unto him, Lord, is it I?” Instead of designating

the betrayer, Leonardo has shown how the announcement sparked astonishment on the

part of the apostles and the searching of their own souls.

Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni), The Last Supper, 1423, tempera on panel

Dirk Bouts. Last Supper, 1464-7, oil on panel

This work, also known as the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, painted between 1464-7

and located in St Peters Church, Louvain, is one of the key works of Northern

Renaissance art. The central panel represents The Last Supper and it is surrounded by

4 smaller panels depicting scenes from the Old Testament. In his Last Supper, Dirk

Bouts breaks with convention by depicting Christ giving the Eucharist, rather than

announcing the betrayal of Judas, as had hitherto been the tradition.

Scholars believe this may in fact be the

first Flemish panel painting to depict the

Last Supper and to use a single

vanishing point of linear perspective. All

the orthogonals in the room (imagined

lines perpendicular to the picture plane)

converge and vanish in a point just above

Christ's head.

Through a window to the right of Christ's

head, a landscape can be glimpsed,

which has it own vanishing point. The

complexity of the painting is increased

by the inclusion of 4 servants, painted in

Flemish clothes.

At first it was thought they may have

been the artist and his sons, but it is

more likely they are the portraits of the

donors who commissioned the altarpiece.

Tilman Riemenschneider. Holy Blood Altarpiece. Rothenberg ob Tauber, 1495-9

Tilman Riemenschneider belonged to the

first generation of sculptors who

occasionally abandoned the customary

practice of decorating their works with

pigments and metal foil, producing instead

uncolored sculpture. The development of

monochromy, in which the wood is visible

through a translucent glaze, imposed new

demands on the artist, since he had to rely

on sculptural means alone to reach the

desired level of expressiveness. The

popularity of the graphic arts in Germany

in the fifteenth century contributed to the

acceptance of uncolored sculpture.

Riemenschneider’s figures contain rich

contrasts between florid and quiet

passages, which create a complex play of

light and dark. Their broad tonal range

brings to mind the subtleties of Martin

Schongauer’s engravings, which

Riemenschneider often took as a point of

departure for his own compositions.

Although Riemenschneider was among the first

sculptors to produce monochrome sculpture, a

large portion of his oeuvre was originally

brightly colored or polychrome. Much of it fell

victim to the nineteenth-century antipathy

toward color in sculpture and was stripped of its

decoration to reveal the bare wood. The

polychromy of wood sculpture, which was often

not carried out in the sculptor’s workshop but

left to painters, relied on much the same

technique as panel painting.

A glue sizing was applied to the wood to close the

pores and prevent the absorption of paint media,

and knots and joints were covered with textile or

plant fibers. The figure then received several

layers of a chalk-based ground, which served as

a support for metal leaf and for opaque and

translucent layers of pigment. The painter could

achieve highly illusionistic effects, especially in

the rendering of textiles and the treatment of

flesh tones, which greatly enhanced the

immediacy of sculpture.

Riemenschneider’s favored material, limewood,

or linden, is especially suitable for sculpture,

since it has a homogeneous texture, making it

easier to carve than oak and other woods with a

pronounced ray structure. A standing figure

was typically carved from a halved section of a

tree trunk, clamped horizontally in an

adjustable workbench that allowed the block to

be rotated. Working from this angle, the

sculptor saw the figure in strong foreshortening,

much as the viewer would when the finished

work was installed above eye level, thus he

could compensate for visual distortions by

adjusting the proportions and modeling.

Certain parts of a figure, such as hands,

attributes, and protruding folds of a drapery

were carved separately and attached to the

figure with dowels. The backs of figures were

normally hollowed out to prevent the wood’s

cracking as it aged. The carvings were

meticulously finished with knives and scrapers,

exploiting the contrast between broad, smooth

areas and incised details.

The Altar of the Holy Blood, located at the church of Saint James (St.

Jakobskirche), Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, is named for the rare relic it

contains: a small sample of Christ’s blood. The relic, encased in rock crystal, is set

in a cross held aloft by two carved angels, enshrined above the corpus (central

panel). The altarpiece itself is a masterpiece of woodcarving created by the

Würzburg sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider between 1501 and 1505. In the

medieval period, the church of Saint James, named for the patron saint of pilgrims,

was an important stop on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain,

and the Holy Blood (Heilig Blut) relic was an object of intense devotion. Today, the

Altar of the Holy Blood, as well as the church’s other great altarpiece, the Twelve

Apostles Altar, continue to draw visitors to the church of Saint James and the

picturesque, medieval town of Rothenburg.

The central panel of the Altar of the Holy Blood depicts the Last Supper, although

the figure of Christ, who is normally portrayed at the center of such scenes, has

been supplanted by Judas, the Apostle who would later betray Jesus in the Garden

of Gethsemane. In The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany, 1475-1525,

Michael Baxandall writes, “Judas is Riemenschneider’s protagonist, displacing

Christ from the centre of the Corpus. . . . The emphasis on poor Judas invites

meditation, though its significances are unlikely to be arcane: Judas might, for

instance, be taken to stand for the lack of discrimination with which God offers

grace.” Citing a sermon from the 1490s by Johannes Pauli, a Franciscan writer,

Baxandall observes, “Judas . . . can be a signal of hope to pilgrims poor in spirit.”

Andrea del Castagno. Last Supper, Refectory at Sant’Apollonia, Florence,

1447, fresco

In 1447 Andrea del Castagno worked in the refectory of Sant'Apollonia in Florence,

painting, in the lower part, the Last Supper fresco, accompanied by other scenes

portraying the Deposition, Resurrection, and Crucifixion, which are now damaged. He

also painted a lunette in the cloister, depicting a Pietà.The end wall of the refectory

(dining hall) was decorated with frescoes, althongh these were never discovered due to

the nuns strict enclosure.

The suppression of the convent in 1860 revealed the existence of only one fresco

representing the Last Supper (the upper section had been whitewashed), which was

initially attributed to Paolo Uccello and then to the real author Andrea del Castagno

(1421-1457), who worked on it after his return from Venice in 1444.

Castagno used his paint to

create the rich marble panels

that checkerboard the trompe-

l'oeil walls and broke up the

long white tablecloth with the

dark figure of Judas the

Betrayer, whose face is

painted to resemble a satyr, an

ancient symbol of evil.

The arrangement of balanced

figures in an architectural

setting is particularly noted.

For instance, Saint John's

posture of innocent slumber

neatly contrasts Jude the

Betrayer's tense, upright pose,

and the hand positions of the

final pair of apostles on either

end of the fresco mirror each

other with accomplished

realism. The colors of the

apostles' robes and their

postures contribute to the

balance of the piece.

Other three frescoes were discovered above this one,

representing respectively the Resurrection, Crucifixion

and Entombment of Christ. At the time of the restoration

in 1952, the three frescoes were removed to be preserved,

thus allowing the recovery of the splendid sinopites.

All scholars agree in praising the sober architectural

structure of the room where the scene of the Last Supper

is taking place: a room in the austere style of Alberti,

with the lavish colored marble panels functioning as a

backdrop to the heavy and solemn scene of the banquet.

Notice also the beauty of some of the minor details, such

as the gold highlights in some of the characters' hair or

the haloes depicted in perfect perspective.

The detail and naturalism of this fresco portray the ways

in which del Castagno departed from earlier artistic

styles. The highly detailed marble walls hearken back to

Roman "First Style" wall paintings, and that the pillars

and statues recall Classical sculpture and preface trompe

l'oeil painting. Furthermore, the color highlights in the

hair of the figures, flowing robes, and a credible

perspective in the halos foreshadow advancements to

come.

Domenico Ghirlandaio.

The Last Supper,

Cenacolo di Ognissanti,

Florence, 1480, fresco

The large refectory of the church of Ognissanti is located between the first and second

cloister of the old convent. The room on the opposite wall gives access to a splendid

stone door in pietra serena, with two basins, built in 1480, on each side. The central

fresco, is the work of Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), who produced with this work

one of the best examples of his art, representing a serene yet dramatic episode of the

Last Supper. The apostles are painted in the moment in which Jesus announces that

one of them will betray him. Following the requests of the monks who commissioned

the painting, Ghirlandaio picked out a large number of apparently decorative details,

which are in reality a precise symbolic reference to the drama of the Passion and

Redemption of Christ, as for instance the evergreen plants, the flight of quails, the

oranges, the cherries, the dove and the peacock.

He has, in fact, composed the apostles’ reactions in accordance with his own view of

psychology, thus revealing the underlying mathematical unity of all life. As if by

inexorable law, the revelation of betrayal factors the number twelve into four groups of

three each. This grouping about the axial figure of Christ establishes a symmetrical

order that subsumes the figurative variety of the individual apostles.

In addition, Leonardo was certainly aware of the symbolic meaning of these numbers

in Christian and human tradition. Three, the number of the Trinity, is the most

sacred, while four conveys the essence of matter in the elements of the earth, air, fire,

and water. Leonardo thus joins the components of creation, spirit, and matter. More

complex numerical symbolism has also been seen here, for there are three Theological

Virtues and four is the number of the Gospels, the Cardinal Virtues, the Rivers of

Paradise, the seasons of the year, and the times of the day.

A study for The Last Supper from Leonardo's notebooks showing nine

apostles identified by names written above their heads

Although Leonardo’s perspective is consistent,

there is no place in the refectory where

spectators can stand so that their eyes are on

the same level as the vanishing point. The

walls of the upper chamber in Jerusalem

cannot be read as continuations of the real

walls of the refectory, and the Albertian role of

the picture as a vertical intersection through

the visual pyramid has been abandoned. This

is perfect perspective, which could not be seen

by any pair of human eyes standing the

refectory.

Within this perspective, larger-than-life

human beings exist and act on a grander

plane, above our experience. Ideal masses

inhabit ideal space to expound an idea,

replacing the delight of the Quattrocento in

visual reality and vivid anecdote. We are now

truly in the High Renaissance, whose basic

idea is Leonardo’s single-handed creation and

which will be adopted later by Michelangelo,

Fra Bartolommeo, Raphael, and Andrea del

Sarto.

Andrea del Sarto. Madonna of

the Harpies

It is noteworthy that this new and grander vision of ideal reality is expressed at just the

moment when the reality of the Italian political situation was recognized as hopeless.

After the French invasion of Italy and the Battle of the Taro in 1495, it was clear that no

matter who claimed victory in that disastrous encounter, Italy was divided and would

remain impotent in the face of the unified monarchies of Western Europe.

Despite the appeals of Machiavelli and others, it was only a matter of time before the

Italian states- with the exception of the Genoese and Venetian republics- would be

overwhelmed by the forces of foreign tyranny. Florence and the papacy, however, would

be allowed to maintain a shadowy independence.

Charles VII (depicted to the right)

entered Italy with 25,000 men (including

8,000 Swiss mercenaries) in 1494 and

marched across the peninsula, reaching

Naples on 22 February 1495.The French

army subdued Florence in passing and

took Naples without a pitched battle or

siege. Alfonso was expelled and Charles

was crowned King of Naples.

Tintoretto. Last Supper, 1594, oil on canvas, Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

In the middle and late Cinquecento, Tintoretto and Veronese disputed the leadership

of the Venetian School with Titian. The older and more dramatic of these younger

artists is Jacopo Robusti (1518-94), called Tintoretto after his father’s trade as a

dyer. Fruitless attempts have been made to identify Tintoretto’s teacher, a matter

perhaps of slight importance considering the originality of his style from the

beginning of his career to its end. But Carlo Ridolfi, who wrote about Tintoretto in

the seventeenth century and had access to local traditions, records that he worked in

the studio of Titian until the great man saw one of the boy’s drawings, inquired who

did it, and ejected him from his house. To the end of his days, however, Tintoretto

had an unrequited admiration for Titian, whom he considered his true teacher.

Tintoretto’s final major work,

The Last Supper, seems to

deny the classic values of

Leonardo’s version, painted

almost exactly a century

before. Christ, to be sure, is

still at the center of the

composition, but his small

figure in the middle distance

is distinguished mainly by

the brilliant halo.

In fact, this arrangement

was designed to relate the

scene to the space of the

chancel of the church of San

Giorgio Maggiore, for which

it was commissioned. The

painting was seen on the

right wall by the faithful as

they knelt to receive

Communion, so that it

receded less sharply than

when viewed head on.

Instead of Leonardo’s closed

and logical space with

massive figures reacting in

individual ways to Jesus’

statement, Tintoretto’s

viewer observes the room

from a corner, with the

vanishing point on a high

horizon line at the far right

side. The table, coffered

ceiling, and inlaid floor all

seem to plunge dramatically

into the distance.

The figures, although still

large bodies modeled by

flowing draperies, turn and

move in a continuous

serpentine line that unites

apostles, servants, and

angels.

Tintoretto has gone to great lengths to give the event an everyday setting. The scene

is cluttered with attendants, containers of food and drink, and animals. There are

also celestial attendants who converge upon Christ just as he offers his body and

blood, in the form of bread and wine, to the disciples. The smoke from the blazing oil

lamp miraculously turns into clouds of angels, blurring the distinction between the

natural and the supernatural and turning the scene into a magnificently

orchestrated vision.

Tintoretto barely hints at the human drama of Judas’ betrayal, so important to

Leonardo. Judas can be seen isolated on the near side of the table, but his role is so

insignificant that he could almost be mistaken for an attendant. The artist’s main

concern has been to make visible the miracle of the Eucharist- the transubstantiation

of earthly into divine food. The central importance of this institution to Catholic

doctrine was forcefully reasserted during the Counter-Reformation.

Tintoretto uses two light sources: one real, the other supernatural. Light streams

from the oil lamp flaring dangerously over the near end of the table; angels seem to

swirl out from the flame and smoke. A second light emanates from Jesus himself

and is repeated in the modest glow of the apostles’ halos. The mood of intense

spirituality is enhanced by deep colors flashed with bright highlights, as well as

elongated figures- treatments that reflect both the Byzantine art of Venice and the

Mannerist aesthetic that was beginning to emerge.

INNOVATION and EXPERIMENTATION: ART of the EARLY and HIGH RENAISSANCE

(Leonardo’s Last Supper) ACTIVITIES and REVIEW

PRESENTATION #1:

Both of these works were created during the 15th century. In what ways does

the depiction of the Last Supper created by Dieric Boots from the early

Northern Renaissance differ from the depiction of the Last Supper by Andrea

del Castagno from the early Italian Renaissance? What factors might account

for these differences?

PRESENTATION #2:

Leonardo’s Last Supper was

created in Milan at

approximately the same time

that the Last Supper by Tilman

Riemenschneider was created in

Rothenberg. Compare and

contrast the two works in regard

to each artist’s interest in

experimentation and innovation.

Identify the art

historical period of

each of these

images of the Last

Supper. Place the

images in

chronological

order.

C

A B

D

Identify the art

historical period

of each of these

images of the

Last Supper.

Place the

images in

chronological

order.

B

A

D

C